Giftgiving课件.pptVIP

Exchange Culture Exchange In all societies, goods and services are exchanged Societies held together by patterns of giving and receiving Through exchange we are obligated to one another Kinds of Exchange Reciprocity Redistribution Market Exchange Reciprocity Generalized: carried out among close kin among many societies; most common in hunter-gatherer societies Balanced: among friends or those of equal status Negative: among strangers Generalized Reciprocity Distribution of goods in which no account is kept of what is given and no immediate or specific return is expected Example in our society: what parents give to their children Generalized Reciprocity Among hunter-gatherers, a hunter distributes meat among the kin group or camp Each person or family gets an equal share or the share depends on kin relationship to hunter Why does the hunter do it? Why give away the meat? Hunter gains status from accomplishing a difficult and highly skilled task All people in the society are bound by the same rules, so everyone is in the position of being a recipient at some point Stinginess is condemned Meat would probably spoil before one family could finish it Balanced Reciprocity Clear obligation to return, within a specified amount of time, goods of nearly equal value Example in our society: gifts at weddings or birthdays, invitations, buying a round of drinks Economic aspect is repressed Refusal to receive or failure to reciprocate the gift means end of social relationship Balanced Reciprocity Gift that is accepted puts receiver under obligation to the giver Most often, the payoff is not immediate and in some situations, giving a return gift immediately shows an unwillingness to be obligated Balanced Reciprocity Characteristic of trading economies that do not have a market economy Trading partners have personalized and long-standing relationships Trading partners know one another’s histories, personalities, and other aspects of their social lives Kula Ring Each trading partner